Quality of life assessment among patients with atopic eczema attending dermatology clinics in Hong Kong

Objective: Atopic eczema (AE) is a common chronic skin disease worldwide with increasing prevalence in recent years. Literatures found its impact on health related quality of life (HRQoL) was significant for both children and adults. This study aimed to measure the HRQoL of local Chinese population with AE and make comparison with that of the Hong Kong (HK) general population. Methods: It was a multi-center cross-sectional descriptive study carried out from October 2008 to February 2009 at the government dermatology clinics. Patients of age 3 to 65 years old fulfilled the criteria of AE based on The UK Working Party's Diagnostic Criteria for AE were invited to join the study. The subjects were given standardized quality-of-life questionnaires to assess the HRQoL. The investigator assessed their clinical severity by Objective SCORAD. Results: One hundred twenty patients (70 children and 50 adults) were recruited. The scores of SF-36 of the patients with AE were found to be significantly lower than that of the Hong Kong sexand age-matched healthy controls. The association between physician-assessed clinical severity (SCORAD) and patient-reported HRQoL was weak. Conclusion: The clinical assessment of disease severity is not sensitive enough to assess the HRQoL of AE patients.